When your dog has big, loud, barky, lungey, snarly, scary feelings about [insert entities here], it doesn’t feel like a walk in the park to…you know, walk in the park (or the neighborhood or public trails, or many of the places you might find yourself walking a dog).
Does your dog growl, bark, and attempt to launch their body like a missile when they see another dog, human, car, runner, skateboarder, or something else when they’re on leash? If so, you’re not alone!
Zorro the red eared slider’s former tank in front of the window. When we first adopted Oso, we knew we were bringing home a dog
It was a lovely, warm sunny day and I couldn’t wait to get my girl, Olivia, outside for a walk! She’s a big fan of being in the sunshine, and I thought it would be the perfect day for it.
For those unfamiliar with Olivia and her life, she is a very leash reactive, noise phobic pup living in Chicago. (And yes, we cannot wait to move somewhere quiet with a yard). We do not rely on leash walks as Olivia’s main form of “entertainment” as the stress of them often outweighs the benefits for her. We balance how she is feeling that day with her desire to go on walks and supplement with other activities as needed.
My short, tongue-in-cheek answer to the question, “Why does my dog bark so much?” is that they’re a dog and that’s one of the ways they communicate. But that answer doesn’t usually help and doesn’t make for an interesting blog post. So let’s dive in a little further, shall we? Starting with a few fundamental pieces of information about barking that will help you figure out where to go from here.
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